


Snowfall in Boston

by cryptjanitor



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: :), F/F, Miracles, OC, OC/OC - Freeform, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Snow, Snowfall, Wasteland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 11:42:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19393426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptjanitor/pseuds/cryptjanitor
Summary: Sole survivor Ruby Biche takes her partner Murphy outside to see the fresh snow in the Commonwealth.





	Snowfall in Boston

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is a short fic exploring the relationship of my friend’s sole survivor, Ruby Biche, and my wasteland born and raised Alaina Murphy. 
> 
> I also thought about if it would ever snow in the Commonwealth. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The air held a particular, biting chill during the late morning that Nick Valentine had forgotten. Being some type of synth he was never really bothered by the weather, save heavy rain that got in his neck. But this was different.

He lifted himself carefully from the rickety old folding chair, hands on his knees, until his knee joints clicked into a standing position. With his hands shoved in his pockets he strode to the Castle Window.

Nick let a soft smile creep upon his lips.

Turning around, he walked into the hall, around the corner. Already he could see the settlers begin to laugh and run about, gathering their coats, dashing out of the bastion doors. His friends came around too: Bluebell and Preston looking outside a window, Bluebell patting Preston’s back, laughing at his surprised face. Nick couldn’t help but smile himself.

Nick made his way down the hall to one of the rooms with a door, and rapped on the doorway, peeking in. Ruby stood next to a bureau with a clean white plate and towel in her hand, drying as daintily as she could. Nick scanned the room and found Murphy in the corner with a laser musket in her lap with a toolbox on the floor.

Ruby looked up with a smile at Nick, and lowered the plate. "Good morning, Nicky!"

Nick nodded back. He walked farther into the room, closer to Ruby, and leaned forward to whisper something into her ear. Murphy watched her face light up with childish glee, eyes snapping to Nick’s devious face. Ruby set her plate inside the bureau shelves and the towel on a table. She closed the shelf doors and practically skipped over to Murphy.

"My love, there is something you should see," she explained, so very excitedly.

Murphy tilted her head, looking back and forth from Ruby to Nick, and a small smiley lip purse formed across her mouth. "What did you do, Nick," Murphy asked.

Nick shrugged and turned around, heading for the door. Ruby clasped her hands together in that way where Murphy knew something fun was happening. She sighed and leaned the musket on the chair, putting the screwdriver on the cushion, and stood all the way in front of Ruby. The woman grabbed her hand gently and started easing them towards the door.

Once in the hall, Ruby spun behind Murphy and guided her with hands on shoulders. "Okay!" Murphy laughed. "What’s going on?"

"You’ll see, boot-camp!" Ruby answered with a giggle.

Close to the bastion exit Ruby placed her fingers over Murphy’s eyes. Murphy groaned sarcastically. "It will be worth it!" she coaxed. The duo skidded across the concrete floors until the doorway was in front of them.

They were met with an exceptionally chilly gust of wind that sent tingly shivers down Murphy’s arms. She let Ruby almost shove her up the two flat steps into the open air, into the courtyard. Murphy heard laughter from the other side of the open area, and boots stomping from heavy running. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Ruby smiled. "Are you ready?"

"Yes?" Murphy responded. "What-?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Rea-"

"Yes!"

The shorter woman held in a snort and shook her head. "One, two...." She lifted her hands, "three!"

Murphy’s eyes took a second to adjust to the brightness of the outdoors. Once set, she tensed.

It was snowing.

Real, actual snow. With an accompanying chill that made her hair stand on end. Just like before the war, in photographs she had seen and books she had read: flurrying, almost fuzzy looking white flakes falling in clumps, catching on the wind. Coating the ground in what seemed like torn feather pillow pieces. Making the sky a brilliant light gray the color of shiny silverware.

Murphy couldn’t help but be surprised. She turned around a few times, taking in the whole sky, eyes wide. A sense of wonder filled her body, a warm buzz that fought the cold.

Ruby’s shoes crunched the frozen grass beside her, waking Murphy from the haze. The taller woman looked at Ruby. "How?" She started. "How is this... possible?"

Ruby shrugged. "Well, damn, I don’t know. I’m no scientist."

Murphy nodded, like she had expected the answer.

"My first thought?" Ruby wove her fingers together in front of her, looking around as well. "I think since it’s been so long since the bombs, maybe the sky kinda... I dunno, threw up all the radiation."

Murphy blew a breathy laugh out of her nose. She focused on the steamy cloud that surrounded her face, and breathed again. "Ha! Clouds."

Ruby blew a short stream from her lips. She laughed at Murphy’s small smile.

Murphy went back to glancing at the sky, at her arms, the ground. She fixated on Ruby’s head, lifting a hand to her hair and brushing off snowflakes. Ruby raised her head to catch Murphy’s hand sweeping across her short locks. Ruby latched on to her fingers with a quick move of her hand. Murphy made eye contact, both of them swept away for a moment before they simultaneously laughed.

Murphy snuck her arms gently around Ruby’s back, settling on her hips, pulling them closer together. Ruby blushed against Murphy’s chin, resting her head, arms over shoulders. They shared a warmth that was absent in the air.

"I just can’t believe..." Ruby whispered, shaking her head. "It’s actually snowing."

Murphy smiled warmly. "Miracles always seem to find you." She exhaled like a dragon, clouds billowing outward above them. "The snow’s just like I remembered."

Ruby tilted her head. "What? You’ve seen snow before?"

"Yes?" Murphy furrowed her brows. "Bluebell and I traveled from the other end of the country. Weather differs."

"Yeah, but - you guys came from the South, right-"

"Ruby." Murphy stopped her. "I’ve seen snow before."

"Fine! Shit, okay." Ruby laughed. She sighed and looked around quietly for a moment. "It’s just so... pretty." Ruby held out her hand. "A little clumpier than pre-war, though. It kinda stings too."

"That’s radiation."

Ruby’s eyes widened and she shook the snowflakes off her fingers. "Oh. Yeah."

They both went quiet to watch the snow flutter down like petals. Kids laughed in the distance, small snowballs being thrown here and there. Bluebell came thundering across the courtyard with a laughing kid tucked under his arm like a football. Preston was laughing a few feet away at the spectacle. 

Nick glanced down at the snow covered ground. He shifted his boots, snowflakes melting into water on the worn leather, and turned heel to walk away. Tipping up the brim of his hat, he stared into the icy sky, tiny clumps of snow falling onto his skin. Nick shoved his hands deep into his pockets and smiled to himself as the ice frost crushed underfoot.

Miracles always found Ruby.

•••


End file.
